


I Could Not Stop For Death

by Wifeofbath



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett, Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 21:04:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4114888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wifeofbath/pseuds/Wifeofbath





	I Could Not Stop For Death

YOU KNOW, Said the congenial figure in the black robe, IT WOULDN’T HURT. IT WOULD BE FAST.

“Fuck off,” growled the girl. She was young and freckled and, at the moment, much more alive than she was supposed to be. She insisted on walking, one foot in front of the other, groaning quietly every time she shifted her weight.

The black robed figure reached into his robe and pulled out an hourglass. It was small and ordinary looking and it was dropping the last pathetic grains of sand into the bottom. Death nodded, it wouldn’t be long.

IF YOU DON’T MIND, I’M RATHER IN A RUSH. There was a shooter in a shopping center in Bangkok. He wanted to get there ahead of schedule, if he could.

“Well,” grunted the girl, “I’m not in a hurry.”

If Death was an an anthropomorphic personification, and, if he had possessed lungs he would have sighed. 

COME NOW CHILD. THERE’S NOTHING HERE FOR YOU.

The girl stopped now and looked around. Her face was pale and there was blood seeping around her fingers as she held the gun shot wound. She seemed to consider his words.

“No,” she said thoughtfully after a moment. She continued her slow, painful trail through the alleyways. 

Death followed her, a step behind. He could wait. If there was one thing he was, it was patient.

“This isn’t fair,” the girl said after another five steps. She leaned against a wall and took several pained breaths. “I’m fifteen. I want to live.”

Death shook his head. He didn’t like it, this businesss with children. They shouldn’t be out here alone and dying. They shouldn’t be starving, and yet…

THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE IS ONLY ME.

The girl looked down at her wound and cursed. Death did not need to look at his hourglass to know it was very nearly over. She was having a harder time breathing. A thick trail of blood marked her path.

Farther down the alley there was a sound. If a skull could look confused then Death would have looked baffled. He tilted his head as if listening to something. Then he pulled the hourglass from his pocket and examined it. There had been very little sand left a moment ago, but now there was more. Much more.

IT SEEMS, he said, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN AN EXTENSION.

The girl had sunk to her knees. She looked up, confused, but death had vanished.

“Shepard?” A boy in baggy pants and a white tank top was walking down the alley. 

From somewhere inside Shepard summoned the reserves of her strength and stood, staggering forward. “I’m here.”

From the shadows, Death watched long enough to ensure she was found. 

___

 

He saw her many times in later years. She would see him too on the battle field. He knew she was growing up when she stopped flinching away. Instead, she nodded calmly to him as he paced by her, the souls of her enemies, behind him.

He respected her.

They were both professionals. They were just doing their jobs.

__

They did not speak again until he found her sitting on a dune in the desert. She was working on something electronic, he couldn’t figure out what it was. Beside her was an overturned mako. 

HELLO. He looked almost awkward when she glanced up. She looked back down at her work. “Not yet,” she said simply. “I’ve still got one trick up my sleeve. She was tightening a wire, focusing hard. Sweat dripped down the back of her neck. Death noticed she had a few more scars on her face and a nick above her eye he hadn’t remembered in passing. Maybe she had a few more brushes with him than she had thought. “You are here for me, right?” she said tightening a screw, “I guess it’s nice to know this doesn’t work.”

I AM HERE FOR SOMEONE.

Shepard tightened her lips. Bolted down the last screw and picked up the device and slung it on her back. She had done something with the mako’s gun, something to make it portable. “But not me?”

IT MAY BE. THE WEB OF CASUALTY IS COMPLEX AROUND YOU. If he had eyelids and facial muscles he would have been squinting at her trying to figure it out. I AM HERE FOR YOU, OR FOR IT.

Shepard nodded and pulled out her canteen. “Maybe both of us. That was the last of my water. If I can’t get to the comm unit in the middle of that bastard’s territory, it’s all over.” She looked doubtful, “I hope it still works.”

She looked up at the sky. Death could tell she was working up the courage to continue her fight. “The rest of my squad… you took them.”

YES

“Are they safe?”

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER ISN’T A PART OF MY JOB.

“I see. Do… do other people see you?” It was the closest she had ever come to the fear most showed when they saw him.

Death shrugged, PEOPLE SEE ONLY WHAT THEY WISH TO SEE. OTHERS ARE MORE AWARE OF HOW CLOSE I ALWAYS AM.

She nodded and started walking down the slope. “I don’t know how I keep surviving. I guess it has to end sometimes.”

ALL THINGS END.

“And it doesn’t seem fair that I keep going and everyone else…” She trailed off, glancing sideways at a piece of armor that was still attached to bits of the wearer. 

THERE IS NO JUSTICE. ONLY ME.

“You’ve said that before.” Shepard shifted her weight. “Well get ready big guy. This is bound to be a hell of a show.”

Later, when he was holding the blue glow that had been the soul of the creature he saw Shepard in the comm vehicle. Half of her armor was burned away and melting into the sand. She was bleeding, but she was alive. He could hear her making contact with her people.

Death turned. She was gone for today. She would see him again he was sure. Everyone went with him eventually.

__

She fell into his arms gasping and finding she could gasp again, but she didn’t need to.

Shepard staggered back again. “I don’t- what?”

Death stepped back as well. I HAD NOT THOUGH TO SEE YOU SO SOON. It was not often he was surprised.

She touched her neck, looking for her O-tank. Then looked up and really saw him. “Oh.”

YES.

Floating below her, Shepard could barely make out what had been her. “I have to go back.”

Death fished around for a moment looking for her timer, but could not find it. ALL THINGS END JANE. It was a usual line. It usually worked. Not on her. 

“They are coming!” She stretched out an arm to her body, “they need me. Or everyone will die.”

THEN, death said, THINK OF THIS AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.

She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed. “What happens now, then?” her voice sounded tinny. 

Death finally retrieved her timer and looked at it. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

“Is that mine? There’s still sand in it.”

AS I SAID, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

It began to glow in his hand, turning his bones red. If he had flesh, it would have been scorched. He looked at Shepard; she was becoming more caporal, less ghostly. 

“What’s happening to me?” She looked down at her hands.

He took a step backwards in surprise. 

She vanished. 

Death stood in the vast darkness of space for a long moment before he too vanished.

 

___

The last time she saw him was the only time she ever looked happy to see him. 

Death had been busy. Very busy.

She was among the last few he had on his list. She was gurgling out her last few breaths when he raised his scythe and brought it cleanly down. 

“You’re pretty good with that.” Her voice was now located above her body. 

THANK YOU.

Shepard squatted down and looked down at herself. “Damn. Surprised I lasted as long as I did.”

He was half surprised when she stood. “You don’t know what comes next yet.”

IT IS UP TO YOU.

She gazed out across the world. “They’ll have to rebuild. I wish I could be here… I fought so hard to save it and I don’t get to live in it.”

He put a hand on her shoulder. She touched it absently. THERE IS NO JUSTICE-

“Only you. You’ve mentioned.”

IT IS YOUR TIME JANE SHEPARD. He felt sad. He would miss her. Seeing her had become…comfortable.

“Will they be okay?”

IT’S NOT YOUR BUSINESS ANYMORE TO SAVE THE WORLD.

“But will they? I need to know.”

Death thought for a moment. I THINK THEY WILL BE.

She nodded slowly. For the first time she looked ready. “Do you think there will be a bar?” She asked as she finally faced him.

He put an arm around her shoulder.

I AM SURE IT CAN BE ARRANGED.

Together, as old friends, they walked into the night.


End file.
